Gas fueled lighter



K. BAUMANN E-rAL July 14, 1964 GAS FUELED LIGHTER Fig. l

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INVENTQXRs KEMA wm uf @mw July 14, 1954 K. BAUMANN ETAL 3,140,593

GAS FUELED LIGHTER Filed Sept. 21A, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 7l 2 n' Flg2 ti l0l 26- kiff," 3o- 25- V Eg? 24 Q 25'- w29 2a- 21' 23! 8'- l n l 221.9' /Tr INV EN TORS @mn/MJ United States Patent C) 3,140,593 `GASFUELED LIGHTER Kurt Baumann, Solingen-Merscheid, and Klaus Buss,Solingen, Germany, assgnors to Firma Wieden & Co. G.m.b.H.,Solingen-Obligs, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Sept. 21, 1962,Ser. No. 225,273 Claims priority, application Germany Oct. 11, 1961Claims. (Cl. 67--7.1)

The present invention relates to a gas fueled lighter with a burner,wherein the gas feeding is controlled by squeezing of a wick, in suchmanner, that a valve cone, equipped with a discharge channel, sitsaround the discharge channel on a wick wound about a core member.

In these known lighters operated with a liquefied, gaseous fuel, asbutane or the like, the liquid fuel is fed by means of a wick to a fueldischarge channel closeable by a valve, in order to provide a volumecontrol of the combustion of the fuel. The valve cone, having thedischarge channel, is adjustable in axial direction by means of a threadconnection and sits on the wick by forming a throttle zone. The fueldischarge channel forms, thereby, a hollow chamber disposed downstreamof the throttle zone, which chamber is closed up towards the outside bya valve plate. By increasing or decreasing the clamping pressure, thewick is more or less strongly squeezed, so that the gas feed can beadjusted at will. These lighters have particularly the drawback, thatduring the first ignition moment the llame appears with an appreciableoverlength and becomes then smaller. The flame rushes upwardly duringthe ignition moment; an appreciable surplus quantity of fuel is consumedthereby. It has been found that this is caused substantially by the factthat a quantity of fuel accumulates in the fuel discharge channeldownstream of the squeezing zone of the wick, which fuel quantity issuddenly freed upon opening of the valve. This operation is of adisadvantage for many reasons in its technical use. Also, the ignitionsafety deteriorates in such lighters, if the lighter is used severaltimes within short time periods and if the flame has burned for a longerperiod of time, respectively.

It is one object of the present invention to provide a gas fueledlighter with a burner, wherein the burner is designed with a gas feedcontrollable by squeezing of a wick wound about a core member such, thatwithout any appreciable effort always an equally large and equallyintensive flame is created from the first moment of ignition to theextinguishing of the ame.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a gas fueledlighter, wherein a fibrous stopper is disposed in the fuel dischargechannel of the valve cone, the direction of the fibres of the fibrousstopper being disposed crosswise to those of the wick within the rangeof the squeezing zone, and wherein a chamber of the burner housingdisposed upstream of the valve cone and receiving the wick to besqueezed has a free connecting opening to the fuel chamber of thelighter.

Due to this arrangement, a completely equalized and ignition-safeworking gas fueled lighter is obtained, without the requirement of anyparticular additional means. The off-going ignition of the fiame rushingto a greater height causing appreciable fuel loss connected therewith isavoided. The fibrous stopper disposed in the fuel discharge channelcauses an equalization of the gas stream. It has been found, that withinthe fibrous stopper likewise merely a fuel stream takes place; the fuelfed in liquid form by means of the wick does not flow upwardly in liquidform within the fibrous stopper, even if the latter engages the wick.The Carburation takes place rather still to a larger measure directlydownstream of the squeezing 3,140,593 Patented July 14., 1964 zone, andin particular within the range of the transformation from the highlycompressed wick material into the non-compressed fibrous material of thefibrous stopper. The valve seat always remains dry. A more reliablesealing can be obtained. Also, the interference zone formed by thecrosswise disposal of the wick fibres to the bres of the fibrous stoppercontributes to the fact, that no feeding of the liquefied fuel into thebrous stopper takes place.

The additional connecting opening, provided in the burner housing,between the wick chamber of the burner housing and the fuel chamber ofthe lighter, brings about that the ignition safety of the lighter iscompletely maintained, regardless, whether the flame is ignitedrepeatedly in a continuous sequence and is extinguished or whether theflame burns for a very long time, in order to be ignited again afterbeing extinguished.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a gasfueled lighter, wherein a favorable design as to manufacture and as totechnical operation is brought about by forming the connecting openingas a small longitudinal slot at the lower end of the burner housing.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a gasfueled lighter, wherein the fibrous stopper disposed in the cylindricaldischarge channel of the valve cone has a length which is a multiple ofits diameter and which reaches closely to below the valve seat.

It is yet a still further object of the present invention to provide agas fueled lighter, wherein the core member, around which the wick iswound, is made of elastic material. By this arrangement it is achieved,that the squeezing pressure operating on the core members produces aplurality of throttle zones of different throttle effects, disposed inseries one behind the other, whereby, however, the upper throttle zoneis subjected to the greatest squeezing pressure. lt is of advantage,thereby, if in accordance with the present invention the core member isequipped with lateral longitudinal grooves for receiving sections of thewick slings.

It is yet still another object of the present invention to provide a gasfueled lighter, wherein the valve cone has a free and narrow feedingopening on its side facing the wick, which feeding opening connects thevalve head With the fibrous stopper, if it is desirable to control thecone of the valve directly from the displacement of the hollow shaft orbody generally equipped with a control wheel. Due to this arrangement itis possible, to form the hollow shaft carrying the control wheelintegral with the valve cone without causing appreciable drawbackswithin the range of the squeezing zone due to the joint rotation. Norotation of fibres on fibres takes place, which could lead easily toball-shaped formations and, thereby, to further drawbacks relating towear, to rotatability and to the flow conditions.

It is yet still another object of the present invention to provide a gasfueled lighter, wherein the feeding opening is formed by a bore in thebottom of a pot-shaped intermediate member itted to the bottom of thevalve cone.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent in thefollowing detailed description, the present invention will be clearlyunderstood in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevation, partly in section, of a gas fueledlighter;

FIG. 2 is an axial section through another embodiment of the burnershown at an enlarged scale;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary elevation of the lower end of the burnerhousing; and

FIG. 4 is an end view of the core member.

Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. l, 3 and 4,the gas fueled lighter comprises a container la defining a fuel chamberG, the lighter cap L with an operating member T pivotally connected withthe container 1a and also the friction wheel R against which the iiint Fis urged in known manner by spring pressure. The lighter cap L closesthe burner housing 1 in known manner, which is rigidly mounted in thecontainer la.

This burner housing 1 is of tubular configuration and has at its upperportion an inner thread 2, which receives threadedly a hollow shaft 4 ofthe knurled setting wheel 5, which hollow shaft 4 is equipped with anouter thread 3.

A burner tube 7 sits in the bore 6 of the hollow shaft 4. A cap issecured to the outer end of the burner tube 7 and a spring 11 surroundsthe burner tube 7 and engages the cap 10 in order to urge the cap 10 andsimultaneously also the burner tube 7 into their outermost positions.The lower end of the burner tube 7 is adapted to engage the upper end ofa valve piston 13, which is normally spaced apart from the burner tube 7by a spring 13a. Upon mounting the lighter cap L on the burner tube 7,the latter is urged inwardly in the direction of the arrow x, so thatthe burner tube 7 is pressed to the upper end of the valve piston 13 andthe latter to the upper side of a valve cone 14. The valve piston 13 hasat its inner end an insert of elastic material for the purpose ofproviding a better sealing.

In the embodiment of the present invention, disclosed in FIG. 1, thehollow shaft 4 abuts the valve cone 14, and the latter has an upwardlyextending cylindrical projection which is sealed against the inner faceof the burner housing 1 by means of an annular packing 15. The valvecone 14 has a conical valve head face 14a and is furthermore equippedwith a fuel discharge bore 24 having an open diameter of about 0.4 mm.The fibrous stopper 25 is disposed in the fuel discharge bore 24. Thisfibrous stopper 25 brings about a completely equalized burning from thefirst ignition moment up to the extinction of the flame. In theembodiment according to FIG. 1, the iibrous stopper 25 extends down tothe lower valve head face.

The embodiment of the present invention disclosed in FIG. 2 issubstantially identical with that shown in FIG. l and comprises a burnerhousing 1' having at its upper portion an inner thread 2', which burnerhousing 1' receives threadedly a hollow shaft 4 by means of an outerthread 3' of the latter.

A burner tube 7' sits also in this embodiment in the bore 6 of thehollow shaft 4 and a cap 10' is secured to the outer end of the burnertube 7'. A spring 11' surrounds the burner tube 7 and engages the cap10' to urge the latter and, thus, also the burner tube '7' into theoutermost position. A valve piston 13 is formed integrally with theburner tube 7' in this embodiment. The lighter cap moves the burner tube'7' downwardly into its closed position. The valve piston 13' isequipped again with an insert of elastic material.

In the embodiment, disclosed in FIG. 2, the hollow shaft 4' is formedintegrally with the valve cone 14'.

A free and narrow passage opening 2S is provided between the lower end25' of the fibrous stopper 2S' and the valve head face 14', the latterengaging the wick 21'. The passage opening 23 is narrower than the fueldischarge channel 24'. The fibrous stopper 25 thus does not engagedirectly the wick 21' in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2. The upper endof the fibrous stopper 25' extends up to short of the valve seat face215L of the collar 26 formed at the upper end of the valve cone 14.

The passage opening 28 is disposed in the bottom of a. pot-shapedintermediate member 29, which is tted to the bottom side of the conicalvalve head face 14a and which is mounted with its wall 2911 by a fittingseat on the valve cone 14'. The end faces of the cylindrical portion ofthe wall 29at abut a sealing ring 30 disposed on the annular bottom faceof the valve cone 14.

At the lower end of the burner housing 1' is disposed an annularshoulder 16 and 16', respectively, which supports a valve seat body 17and 17', respectively, and is retained in position by means of a controlspring 19 and 19', respectively, the latter engaging the valve cone 14and 14', respectively.

The valve seat body 17 and 17' defines a chamber 18 and 18',respectively, through which the wick 21 and 21', respectively, extends.The bore 2t) and 20', respectively, is disposed in the valve seat bodyand extends, in the cmbodiment shown in FIG. 2, into a collar 17aprojecting downwardly from the valve seat body 17'. The wick 21 and 21',respectively, is wound about an elastic core member 22 and 22',respectively, disposed within the chamber 18 and 18', respectively, ofthe valve seat body and in particular, in longitudinal grooves 23 and23', respectively, so that the thread-like wick is disposeddiametrically on the end faces of the core member 22 and 22',respectively, and is disposed axially opposite the bearing face of thelatter, whereby the two joint wick legs are received in the bore 20 and20', respectively.

At the lower corner of the burner housing 1 and 1', respectively, isarranged another opening 31 and 31', respectively, which provides acommunication betweenI the fuel chamber G of the lighter with the lowerinner chamber 1n of the burner housing 1 and 1', respectively.

The valve cone 14 and 14', respectively, is pressed towards the valveseat body 17, 17' by more or less screwing the hollow shaft 4, 4 intothe burner housing 1, 1'. The conically shaped valve head face 14a, 14aof the valve cone 14, 14 fits then on the wick 21, 21', presses againstthe latter and, under circumstances, also against the core member 22,22', so that a throttling is brought about. Upon exerting high pressure,the core member is deformed to a slight bulbous shape, so that laterallylikewise throttle zones are created. The fuel gas evaporates at theupper throttle zone and enters as such the fibrous stopper 25. In theopen condition of the valve piston 13, 13' the fuel gas escapes.

In the formation according to FIG. 2 an entrance channel is provided inthe burner tube 7.

In the formation according to FIG. l, however, the burner tube 7 is openat the bottom. The connecting opening 31, 31 brings about a continuouspressure balance and a sufiicient soaking of the wick.

While we have disclosed two embodiments of the present invention, it isto be understood that these embodiments are given by example only andnot in a limiting sense, the scope of the present invention beingdetermined by the objects and the claims.

We claim:

1. A gas fueled lighter comprising a container, defining a fuel chamber,

a tubular burner housing rigidly secured to and disposed within saidfuel chamber,

a closing cap pivotally mounted on said burner houslng said tubularburner housing having an inner thread at its upper end,

a hollow shaft having an outer thread at its upper end complementary tosaid inner thread of said tubular burner and threadedly received by thelatter,

a burner tube mounted in said hollow shaft,

spring means surrounding the upper end of said burner tube and urgingsaid burner tube into its outermost position,

a Valve piston disposed in said hollow shaft below said burner tube,

a valve cone disposed in said burner housing below and opposite saidvalve piston and having an upper seat and an axial fuel discharge boreextending through said valve cone,

said valve piston being axially spaced apart from said Valve cone in itsoperative, lifted and fuel-feeding position and urged against the upperside of said valve cone upon closing said closing cap in its lowered,inoperative position,

a core member disposed in said bruner housing below said valve cone.

wick surrounding said core member and said valve cone being pressed onsaid wick by means with a variable pressure in order to control the fuelfeed from said wick through said discharge bore of said valve cone,

fibrous stopper disposed in said discharge bore of said valve cone,

the run of the fibers of said fibrous stopper being disposed crosswiseto the fibers of said wick within the range of engagement of the lowerface 0f said valve cone with said wick,

the inner end of said burner housing below said valve 2. wherein saidopening in said chamber comprises a narrow,

longitudinal slot disposed at the lowermost end of said burner housing.

The gas fueled lighter, as set forth in claim 1, wheresaid core membersurrounded by said wick is of elastic material, and said core member isequipped with 6 lateral longitudinal grooves receiving sections of loopsof said wick. 4. The gas fueled lighter, as set forth in claim 1, where-1n said valve cone has a narrow, axial passage axially aligned with saidbore of said valve cone and disposed at the face of said valve coneengaging said wick, in order to provide a communication between saidfibrous stopper and said wick. 5. The gas fueled lighter, as set forthin claim 4, which includes a pot-shaped intermediate member fitted tothe bottom face of said valve cone and having said narrow, axialpassage.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,737,037 Zellweger Mar, 6, 1956 2,764,008 Gruber Sept. 26, 19562,895,318 Zellweger July 21, 1959 3,083,554 Iketani Apr. 2, 19633,085,412 Mohr et al. Apr. 16, 1963 3,096,636 Newman July 9, 1963FOREIGN PATENTS 833,074 Great Britain Apr. 21, 1960 886,289 GreatBritain Jan. 3, 1962 1,200,837 France July 6, 1959

1. A GAS FUELED LIGHTER COMPRISING A CONTAINER, DEFINING A FUEL CHAMBER,A TUBULAR BURNER HOUSING RIGIDLY SECURED TO AND DISPOSED WITHIN SAIDFUEL CHAMBER, A CLOSING CAP PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID BURNER HOUSING,SAID TUBULAR BURNER HOUSING HAVING AN INNER THREAD AT ITS UPPER END, AHOLLOW SHAFT HAVING AN OUTER THREAD AT ITS UPPER END COMPLEMENTARY TOSAID INNER THREAD OF SAID TUBULAR BURNER AND THREADEDLY RECEIVED BY THELATTER, A BURNER TUBE MOUNTED IN SAID HOLLOW SHAFT, SPRING MEANSSURROUNDING THE UPPER END OF SAID BURNER TUBE AND URGING SAID BURNERTUBE INTO ITS OUTERMOST POSITION, A VALVE PISTON DISPOSED IN SAID HOLLOWSHAFT BELOW SAID BURNER TUBE, A VALVE CONE DISPOSED IN SAID BURNERHOUSING BELOW AND OPPOSITE SAID VALVE PISTON AND HAVING AN UPPER SEATAND AN AXIAL FUEL DISCHARGE BORE EXTENDING THROUGH SAID VALVE CONE, SAIDVALVE PISTON BEING AXIALLY SPACED APART FROM SAID VALVE CONE IN ITSOPERATIVE, LIFTED AND FUEL-FEEDING POSITION AND URGED AGAINST THE UPPERSIDE OF SAID VALVE CONE UPON CLOSING SAID CLOSING CAP IN ITS LOWERED,INOPERATIVE POSITION, A CORE MEMBER DISPOSED IN SAID BURNER HOUSINGBELOW SAID VALVE CONE. A WICK SURROUNDING SAID CORE MEMBER AND SAIDVALVE CONE BEING PRESSED ON SAID WICK BY MEANS WITH A VARIABLE PRESSUREIN ORDER TO CONTROL THE FUEL FEED FROM SAID WICK THROUGH SAID DISCHARGEBORE OF SAID VALVE CONE, A FIBROUS STOPPER DISPOSED IN SAID DISCHARGEBORE OF SAID VALVE CONE, THE RUN OF THE FIBERS OF SAID FIBROUS STOPPERBEING DISPOSED CROSSWISE TO THE FIBERS OF SAID WICK WITHIN THE RANGE OFENGAGEMENT OF THE LOWER FACE OF SAID VALVE CONE WITH SAID WICK, THEINNER END OF SAID BURNER HOUSING BELOW SAID VALVE CONE DEFINING ACHAMBER RECEIVING SAID WICK AND HAVING AN OPENING FOR COMMUNICATIONBETWEEN SAID LAST-MENTIONED CHAMBER AND SAID FUEL CHAMBER, AND SAIDFIBROUS STOPPER, BEING DISPOSED IN SAID DISCHARGE BORE OF SAID VALVECONE, HAS A LENGTH AMOUNTING TO A MULTIPLE OF THE DIAMETER OF SAIDDISCHARGE BORE AND EXTENDS TO A POINT SHORT OF SAID UPPER SEAT OF SAIDVALVE CONE.